R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Kaede Hirooka’s ongoing Calgary-based Respect the Technique pop-up series has a deliberately unspecific name. It allows him and business partner Jonathan Chung to make any style of food, though more often than not, it’s a play on Japanese cuisine that allows the chefs to exercise considerable creativity (think chicken wing gyoza, pork wonton ramen kits, and sundry Asian-accented sauces and condiments). That same spirit shines with Hirooka’s new gig as executive chef at Hello Sunshine, a brand-new Japanese concept from the Banff Hospitality Collective scheduled to open in June. BHC’s Justin Leboe tapped Hirooka to dream up a menu focused on robatayaki, a Japanese open-flame cooking method similar to barbecue. Hirooka also has a Texas-style smoker at his disposal, as well as a small chef’s tasting area and the license to mash up Canadian and Japanese influences in the creation of izakaya tapas-style dishes like shawarma bao and cheeseburger gyoza. “You can’t get your standard Agedashi Tofu here,” Hirooka says. “It’s more along the lines of what I’ve been trying to do with RTT.”
—Elizabeth Chorney-Booth